He Ruined my Happily Ever After
by ProphyWife
Summary: He ruined my happily ever after…the one that every little girl dreams about. I was going to become a princess and marry my prince charming. Then the sound, that awful sound, ripped through the scene like a chainsaw and tore my happily ever after to shreds.
1. The Wedding

The intricately carved wooden doors opened slowly as the music came to a crescendo. The masses of people lining the church pews stood up and straightened out their starchy finery craning their heads towards me to get a better look. I nervously began to put one foot in front of the other meeting their eyes and smiling the best I could. In truth, I had a death grip on my flowers and felt like I was going to simultaneously throw up and topple over.

Earlier that morning I had just about every beauty trick done to my skin and face, both the oldest tricks in the book and ones that had never been in a book. My golden hair was braided back and intertwined with pearls and jewelry, all borrowed from my soon to be mother in law of course. There wasn't much they needed to do to my jade eyes, they had always stood out from my light skin complexion. My ladies must have pinched my lips and cheeks so hard that I had more bruising than luster to my milky skin, but they told me I looked beautiful. I didn't feel beautiful at the moment with everyone staring at me.

Then my eyes looked far down the aisle to see him standing there and everything quieted. My hearted responded by beating faster, not because I was nervous but because he looked so perfect there waiting for me. He had a tiny playful smile on his lips that slightly touched the corners of his brown eyes. Normally, he was messy and unkept but today his brown hair was smoothed back in a neat part and his clothes were well fitted to his slender frame. Of course his hair protested and I could see the beginning of a few loosening strands on his forehead. The crest of his family shone proudly on his chest catching the morning light streaming through the chapel windows and a gold crown was fitted snugly on top of his head. Now I was definitely going to faint.

Once my long walk up the aisle alone finally came to an end, he held out his hand to help me up the velvet carpeted steps to stand in front of him. The music gently faded as my bridesmaids fussed with my long train and veil, two things I had seriously objected to but his mother had insisted upon.

The dress was ridiculously expensive and poofy, not at all practical for moving, talking, eating or breathing. The fitted bodice was flattering, but personally I preferred breathing over a slender waistline. In the tradition of all princesses, my veil's length was probably as long as the aisle I just came down. I didn't know how I was going to make a "U turn" back down that same aisle without getting tangled in it.

The officiant, an ancient man that probably married all the royals since the beginning of time, began to mumble his welcomes and pleasantries. All I could see was my prince, I couldn't believe I was marrying him. A thousand girls would have died for this opportunity yet here I stood holding his hands in mine.

Suddenly, I became aware that the officiant now was staring at me over the rim of his gold glasses with an arched eyebrow

"I...do?" I guessed

"Your last name, my lady" the officiant sighed not at all amused by the hold up in his ceremony. He probably had it down to an art at this point and no blushing bride was going to keep him from doing it how he had a thousand times.

A long pause followed as I thought about his question. I didn't know my last name, I didn't even know who my parents were. I had always simply been Ehvi at the orphanage where I grew up. What could I possibly say that would answer the question?

Sensing my distress, my prince simply told the officiant it was not needed and to continue. He then smiled back at me and whispered, "You'll have my last name anyway by the end of this."

A little put off, the officiant continued droning on about our vows and marriage. I mostly tuned out but made sure to respond when told to do so in the correct manner this time. Finally, it came time for the announcement and the kiss. It was pretty apparent that the most exciting point in the marriage ceremony was the least favorite point of the officiant because he snapped his bible closed definitively and took off his glasses slowly. Both the prince and I stared at him impatiently while he blew on his glasses and rubbed them on his robes. Once they were perched on top of his crooked, leathery nose again he opened his mouth but his voice was not the sound that came out. A different sort of sound filled the church.

It sounded like a whirring noise, foreign and something that I had never heard before. It proceeded to get louder and louder as a great wind picked up. Hats, hair and clothing whipped about in a frenzy as everyone in attendance tried their best to tame the inanimate objects about them. I held onto my veil the best I could as my prince stepped in front of me and took out his long sword he had hanging from his belt.

Just over his shoulder I could see something was coming into view down the center of the aisle. It was like a mirage that blinked in and out of existence as my mind tried to make sense of it. Suddenly, the image stopped blinking and there was a loud final boom as it stood in full view to everyone. The guests in the pews who had shrunk away from it originally murmured their surprise.

Whatever it was, it was painted a deep blue with what looked to be a light on top of the lid. It was a box, that I knew for sure, with windows on the outside and the name of "Police" scrolled in white letters above what looked to be a door. I didn't know what "police" was or stood for, but I hoped whatever came out of that box wouldn't kill us.

My prince stood rigidly in front of me wrapping his hand that was not holding the sword around me to make sure I was safely behind him. Suddenly, the door to the box burst open with a loud squeak and a strange man dressed in unusual clothes burst out, one hand above his head.

"I OBJECT!" he bellowed, his deep voice bouncing off the stone walls of the church. He was sprinting forward towards us with a determined look on his face.

Whatever he objected to was lost in the reaction of both the guards and the crowd. The guests immediately shuffled backwards, pushing in upon themselves in alarm and surprise as the guards of the castle swarmed forward with their weapons at the ready. They surrounded the newcomer easily and had him at knife point on all sides.

He was a slightly taller man with a slender frame and brown deep eyes that told of wisdom beyond what his age showed. Everything about him was strange, his boots laced up but didn't go past his ankles, his pants were brown but settled funny on his body and he had something tied around his neck that hung in front of his tunic.

Reconsidering his situation, the man pulled up a sleeve of his coat and looked at a device on his wrist for a moment and then dropped his arm smiling sheepishly and rubbing a hand through his hair that already looked like it was trying to escape his head.

"May have come in a bit late…sorry about that."

"What is it that you object to exactly?" my prince interjected still holding out his own sword in the direction of the man, "The fact that you just appeared in this church or that you ruined my wedding?"

"Well the appearing part I can explain, mostly the ruining your wedding part is what I object to. I was trying to do it in the traditional sense, but that's really never been my style." He babbled in response rocking back on his heels and shoving his hands into his pockets. He then leaned over a bit to the right and a huge grin appeared on his face as he caught site of me.

"Hello, you must be Ehvi!"

I stood there like a dumb mute, mostly from shock of how this stranger knew my name. I tried to stay hidden mostly but my curiosity was peaking. After a moment had passed, I held up a hand and mildly wiggled my fingers at him whispering out a nervous hello back.

"So, let's make this easy shall we?" the man continued moving his gaze from me to the guards and following the points of their weapons. "To make a long story short, Ehvi can't marry you and she has to come with me."

There was a short pause, then my prince barked out a loud short laugh. Slowly, this laughter was taken up by the wedding guests and finally the guards. The only two who were not laughing were the stranger and I.

"You think you can appear with your magic, tell my bride that she can't marry me and then STEAL her?" the prince laughed putting his sword away seeing that this man was no threat.

The stranger titled his head to one side and replied, "No, I wasn't going to steal her. She is going to come on her own free will. Trust me, you don't want to know what happens if she does marry you."

More laughter from the audience, but my prince was not laughing this time.

"Who do you think you are talking to a prince that way?" he demanded

"I'm the Doctor." The stranger replied simply placing a finger on one of the guards blades and forcing him to lower it away from his neck.

"There is no one here that needs medical attention…go back to where you reside from." The prince spat back at clearly not pleased by his arrogance.

"I'm not really not that kind of doctor…well…maybe…sometimes…often…" the stranger began to ramble again rubbing his chin but my prince's patience had finally run out.

"Get him out of my site!" he bellowed angrily, "lock him in the dungeon and guard that box of his until I can make sense of this all."

Two guards moved in and took the arms of the man who called himself "The Doctor" roughly to restrain him. As they began to drag him away in the direction of the dungeon under heavy guard I could hear him saying, "No violence in the church please!"

Suddenly, my view of the stranger was blocked by my prince's face. His expression had softened and he cupped my chin in his palm soothingly.

"I am so sorry he ruined this day for us my love, allow me to make it up to you. Go and rest, you must be shocked from all the excitement."

Before I could protest, my ladies had gathered my dress and veil up and I was forced to follow where the rest of my dress lead me. I wasn't in need of rest however, I was in need of answers.

I looked back over my shoulder at the mess the stranger had left behind him, dishelved wedding guests, knocked over floral arrangements and the big blue box in the middle of the church. I could tell that this was not over just yet and it wouldn't be the last time I saw the stranger or the blue box.

Later that evening once things in the castle quieted down from all the excitement and my ladies left me for the night, I rose from my bed and looked out the window. The window of my apartments looked down on the courtyard that faced the church and I could see a curious crowd still gathered there with torches to see by. Word had spread fast of the strange man in the blue box and everyone wanted to go inside the church to marvel at this new wonder. The church had promptly closed its doors by order of the prince.

I lit the candle at my bedside table and threw on a silken robe over my nightdress. My hair had remained in the braid that I donned earlier, but the pearls and other fineries had been removed for sleeping. I was determined to speak to this "doctor" again, and it had to be tonight.

Despite the large crowd waiting outside the church, I was clever enough to know a different way in that did not require getting past them. There was a secret passageway the queen often used for what she called her, "daily prayers to our Lord." I knew she liked to sleep inside the confessional box undisturbed and often heard her snoring when I visited the church around lunchtime. The church, weirdly enough, held secure cells below it inside the crypts. I guessed this was where they were keeping the strange man until more suitable arrangements could be made for him.

Shielding the flame of the candle with one hand and opening the door to my room with the other, I crept down the darkened hallway towards the royal's quarters. Unfortunately, since I was only engaged to be a royal and not officially a married royal yet I would have to sneak back towards the queen's rooms. I made good time making sure to avoid the pools of light that the guards clustered around every now and then.

Once I reached the passageway, which remained behind a tapestry, I slipped inside and nearly ran down the stairs being careful to tread lightly. I had only ever used this passageway twice, but neither time was at night so the last thing I wanted to do was fall and break something. As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs, the texture under my feet changed from stone to earth and the air chilled. I followed along a long hallway keeping one hand on the stone wall for guidance and the other outstretched with the weak candle flame casting an eerie glow about me. My heart was about to tear out of my chest from both excitement and fear of how this place looked in the dark.

After another few minutes my hand found a door frame with a simple wooden door. I reached down and opened it and stepped inside to a cellar filled with barrels of food and caskets of wine used by the monks and priests. I slipped past the large barrels on the floor making sure not to disturb anything and made my way through another set of doors that led to the crypt. Once I passed through those doors the air significantly changed from one of mildly chilly to bone aching cold. I could tell the air was stale by the way it weighed around my body as I moved down another passage that continued to narrow.

I finally came out of the narrowed passageway to find a large straw filled room with three cells to my right and three to my left. There were torches between each of the cell bars but only one was lit on my right. Blowing out my candle I peered around the corner and was suddenly face to face with the strange man who had his cheeks pressed up against the bars of the cell and was grinning at me manically.

I let out a cry of surprise and jumped back but this only made him grin wider.

"I knew you'd come, don't know what took you so long…"

Gathering my wits again, I opened my mouth but shut it again unsure of what really to say. I am sure he could read the perplexed look on my face because he replied, "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"I…have questions." I began again trying to formulate the millions of questions I did have into a coherent way to begin asking them.

"I'm the doctor, I travel in the TARDIS and I have come here because you can't marry that prince. He's not your prince and in actuality you are suppose to help me find the girl that he is suppose to marry." The doctor said matter of factly and then looked at me like that explained everything.

Once again the dumb mute status had returned to me and I stared blankly at him feeling numb from what he had just blurted out. Despite not understanding what a TARDIS was, all I could focus on was the fact that I was suppose to find MY prince another woman to marry.

"So you're the doctor…" I began as he nodded is approval, "and you travel in that blue box…and I am suppose to find the man I love another woman to marry…"

"EXACTLY! BRILLIANT!" the doctor cried removing his face from the bars and slapping the side of them with his hand. "Now get me out of here so we can be on our way!"

"You're insane and I want nothing to do with you." I concluded simply going over to the torch to light my candle and be on my way again. I clearly had made a mistake thinking that this man held any answers to my questions and being around him seemed to be more confusing than helpful.

"Wait, wait wait!" he pleaded reaching his hand through the bar and placing it gently but firmly on my upper arm. I turned to him and stared into his brown eyes with all my anger, but when I saw his pleading look I soften. Maybe there was more to this story than the doctor seemed to be telling me at the moment.

"I know you love him and I sort of get that…kinda…but you don't know what destruction your marriage will bring the kingdom. I came here to help you…and save space and time…but mostly to help you"

I blinked surprised.

"There will be no happy ending for you Ehvi, I am not going to lie…" the doctor said slowly seeing that I was coming around, "Why bring down an entire kingdom to try and make it happen?"

A long pause ensued as he removed his hand from my arm and placed it back around the bars of his cell. I stood there dumbfounded holding my candle in front of me and looking at the doctor. My insides hurt with anger and all I wanted to do was shut my eyes and wish this awful man away so none of it could be true. I wanted nothing more than to believe it wasn't true. However, the look in his eyes and the little voice inside my brain was telling me otherwise.

"Okay…" I said softly, "Let's get you out of there"


	2. The Girl in the Forest

After a few moments of searching around for a key, the doctor used another one of his gadgets to free himself and grabbed my hand to lead me roughly up the passageway.

"Why didn't you just do that in the first place?" I called to him trying my best to keep on my feet.

"That would have been too easy, don't you think?" The doctor replied with a quick smile over his shoulder at me.

We stopped just in the doorway looking down the large marble aisle of the church, the same one I had walked down only hours before. In the moonlight everything glowed a pearly white in the deep silence that filled the desolate church. The blue box stood out of place on the red velvet carpet of the aisle just catching the light on its right side from the great rose window at the end of the church.

"Right where I left you." Smiled the doctor as he left the cover of the doorway to walk over to his box and place a hand on its side lovingly. "Ehvi, this is the TARDIS."

I walked over slowly and took a long look at it then dropped into a quick curtsy, "How do you do…TARDIS?"

The doctor laughed and grabbed my hand pulling me around the corner of the box. He placed a hand on the door and shoved it inward allowing me to go first inside.

"Before you say anything…" he prompted as I stepped inside turning my head to take in everything around me.

"It's bigger on the inside…" I breathed nearly fainting from the sight of it all. Everything was covered in a gold metal all surrounding a circular glass pathway that encompassed a large glass cylinder. It looked like some sort of pump moving back and forth inside the cylinder making a lower droning noise similar to the one I had heard before the doctor appeared on my wedding day. True to my words, it was bigger on the inside and I couldn't fathom how he crammed all of this inside a tiny little box.

"Right, Let's be off then!" The doctor decaled closing the doors of the TARDIS behind him and pushing past me as a continued to stare dumbfounded.

I followed the doctor up to the large circular panel that surrounded the glass cylinder and watched as he flicked switches and jabbed buttons randomly. He glanced briefly at a mounted box on springs and then put both his hands on a large switch nearby.

"Hang on to something!" he called to me and used all his weight to flip the switch to a downward position. The droning that I had heard when I first entered the TARDIS grew louder as the entire room began to shift.

I was flung backwards into a yellow springy chair as the doctor held onto the controls. Everything was shifting towards me as the weight pushed me further back into my chair. I dug my nails into the side of the seat doing my best to hang on when suddenly gravity released me and everything righted itself.

The droning noise faded away as the pump inside the cylinder slowed to a halt. Everything inside the TARDIS seemed to creak and moan around me as I stood up from my chair and looked around for the doctor. The doctor popped his head over the controls and smiled at me sheepishly.

"Usually not that bumpy…" he said jumping to his feet and brushing off himself. "Now, let's see where we've landed."

I followed him over to the door as he took both door handles in his hands and flung them open wide. Blinded by sunlight that glared in, we were forced to shield our eyes to see. We had landed in what looked to be a forest with dark leafy foliage all around us as the smell of freshly fallen rain filled the air. Animals were now curiously gathering in the underbrush to get a look at what had probably scared them off in the first place.

"So we didn't go anywhere but outside the castle and into the forest." I said unimpressed walking out of the TARDIS and into the soft soil.

"No, this forest is not in your world." The doctor said in a low voice popping the end of his index finger into his mouth and then lifting it high into the air as he walked out of the doors behind me.

"Looks the same to me…" I mused looking up at the tops of the trees that were filled with chattering birds.

Suddenly, a scream filled the air and sent the birds flying in all directions. The animals scurried back into the underbrush as I turned and looked at the doctor with dismay.

"This way!" The doctor pointed as he crashed through a large bush haphazardly.

I did my best to follow him shoving large leafy plants and shrubs out of my way but was brought up short when I came into a clearing where two other figures stood besides the doctor.

A little girl, not more than seven, dressed in fine clothing was on her knees in front of a larger man. Her skin was beautiful pale porcelain color but what was most striking about her was the contrast her ruby red lips and dark black hair caused against her skin. Her brown eyes were filled to the brim with tears that spilled down her flushed cheeks as she looked at us.

The man who stood behind her was scruffy with a large wooly beard that covered half of his face. His shaggy brown hair covered his eyes so I could not tell what kind of expression he wore upon seeing us. It was hard not to notice that in his beefy arm he held a thick blade poised in the air ready to presumably strike down at the girl who was before him on her knees.

The doctor put up his hands slowly and said in a calm, soothing voice, "Now let's hang on and talk about this shall we


End file.
